Tag Archives: Avengers United

Sorry I wasn’t here last week. I was in Kansas City, helping to raise money for the wonderful HERO INITIATIVE (Click on the name and go donate!) so, I could not come to the Bun Toon.

But I did do something this week that I’ve been waiting to do for decades.

No punch line this week.

Just jumping for joy.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Long time readers of this Bunny blog are familiar with my connection to Avengers #58.

It all begins here

I’ve “re-imagined” the story at least twice while writing different Avengers books over the years, and make no secret of my love of the Vision.

But the Black Panther holds a similar place in my heart because of that issue, and I made a point of including Panther as often as I could manage it when working on Marvel projects.

When Dan Slott and I were putting together plans and ideas for the Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series we did, Dan asked if I had any wishes for the plot. “Black Panther” was my only request, and he appeared in issue #4.

When I was writing the AVENGERS UNITED mini-series in the early 2000s, I was given a set of Avengers to work with (Wasp, Vision, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Wonder-Man, Tigra, Falcon) and Black Panther was not amongst them.

Nevertheless, in the premiere issue of that series, the Avengers first appear on page 2-3 in a sequence where they’re working out in the training room…

….You’ll notice Black Panther is there, in the background. The story claims he’s “visiting” the mansion while he’s in New York, even though he’s not an Avenger. I’m sneaky that way.

Some months later, the Avengers are captured by the Collector and find themselves on the Collector’s ship, in orbit around Earth.

…you’ll notice T’Challa is there, behind cap’s leg. Apparently the Collector didn’t know The Panther wasn’t an Avenger and he captured him along with the team “accidentally”.

He’s there in the next couple of issues, too.

I made sure the Black Panther appeared in as many issues as the editor would let me get away with. I wasn’t writing the Avengers without him.

Why?

Because the Black Panther is the ultimate heroic character. He’s insanely wealthy, he’s king of his own country, he’s young, handsome and good looking and a genius inventor….but he spends his time helping the less fortunate instead of wallowing in his remarkable good fortune. And unlike Batman, T’Challa’s not doing the heroic bit because of personal trauma or compulsion…he’s doing it because it’s the right thing to do. It’s his moral position that those who can help, must help.

As a kid, I never wanted to be Batman, because of the whole orphaned childhood thing. And I never wanted to be Superman…it’s too weird that you could fly.

But I wanted to BE Black Panther.

Who wouldn’t?

Some pages from the amazing “Panther’s Rage” story that introduced Killmonger and the whole concept of a two hundred page comic book story. Art by Billy Graham (the other one).

Nice job on the movie, guys. You could have screwed it up and ya didn’t. Thank you from this happy five year old boy who waited patiently.

I’ve been so busy making Spider-Man comics for the last couple of days that I didn’t get a chance to see the latest Marvel Blockbuster until yesterday. Overall, I liked it, but I still found at least…

SPOILERS IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE AVENGERS MOVIE YET:

I wished Hawkeye had been written a little better, and I think Captain America didn’t have much useful to do in the final battle, and Loki wasn’t as strong here as he was in the Thor movie, but the great stuff with Black Widow and the terrific scenes with team all together, more than made up for the shortcomings. Avengers isn’t the BEST Marvel movie (that’s still Iron Man), but it’s a really fun ride for your buck.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Here now, your BONUS Avengers Adaptation Comics Book Moments:

My favourite Avengers cover I ever got to draw. It featured Devil Dinosaur and the phrase “Dino-FIghting Action”, which is all this young cartoonist could wish for.

My second favourite…mostly because I got to write “Evil scientists stole my love” on the bottom left. I have a “thing” for cover blurbs.